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Motherboards ITX Anonymous Club

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Arboreal, 11 Jun 2016.

  1. David

    David μoʍ ɼouმ qᴉq λon ƨbԍuq ϝʁλᴉuმ ϝo ʁԍɑq ϝμᴉƨ

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    I had my 3770K and GTX 780 running in one of these:

    [​IMG]

    14.7 litres with room for an AIO cooler - not too shabby

    I've since reverted to mATX, but my son's i5 rig now resides in the SG07.

    The Dan A4 looks like a cracking little case, but way overpriced IMO.
     
  2. edzieba

    edzieba Virtual Realist

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    Any short run (i.e. less than around 10k produced at a time) case is going to be 'overpriced' due to production costs.

    You can make a £50 case with stamped steel/aluminium panels and injection moulded parts, but the startup costs to create those stamps and moulds are MASSIVE (~£10k for the mould, much more for a custom multi-panel press stamp). These startup costs are spread across huge production runs, so the cost per case tends towards the unit cost for each case, which is pretty small for injection moulding and stamping (close to raw material cost + assembly & QC labour).
    But if you can't produce 100k+ cases at once, and/or don't have the tens/hundreds of grand to produce those stamps/moulds, then the cost per case goes up dramatically. Instead of producing a side panel in a single press operation, each panel takes many steps to punch each hole (which may take many different toolings for screw holes, vent holes, slots, etc), plus additional steps on another machine for bending, and so on. The labour cost rises dramatically, and stays constant per unit.
     
  3. David

    David μoʍ ɼouმ qᴉq λon ƨbԍuq ϝʁλᴉuმ ϝo ʁԍɑq ϝμᴉƨ

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    I understand the economic principles, I just don't think it stacks up in this case (pardon the pun).
     
  4. Parge

    Parge the worst Super Moderator

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    Why not?
     
  5. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    I think the further we get into the "PC market shrink" the more we'll get niche vendors setting up in markets where it's viable. It's a good thing if a few thousand are prepared to pay for something more unique and less one-size-fits-most.
     
  6. jinq-sea

    jinq-sea 'write that down in your copy book' Super Moderator

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    When I have a bit of time (and some daylight) I'll post up some pictures. Custom loopz for lyf, yo.

    Supremacy Nickel on the CPU, FC Titan X on the graphics card, and a slim 240mm rad (alphacool I think). Couldn't find a 3.5mm drive bay res to save my life, mind...
     
  7. Arboreal

    Arboreal Keeper of the Electric Currants

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    IIRC, that's the SG07 I sold you on the MP; an old friend.

    'I've since reverted to mATX':eyebrow: Traitor!!!!

    I have been intrigued by the 2 slot mDTX boards sold as mATX that have a 1 lane slot above the 16 lane slot, allowing for a sound card or wifi card AND will fit in a 2 slot ITX case.
    Problem there is the distinct lack of decent spec single slot cards of late.
    Maybe Pascal or RX 4x0 will allow for something with some grunt and a slim cooler.
     
  8. edzieba

    edzieba Virtual Realist

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    The key is to finally ditch DVI-D. DP++ Can handle native HDMI, which means single-link DVI is covered. You lose dual-link DVI and VGA though, but I'm not sure how many dual-link DVI monitors are still in operation that do not have either HDMI or DP as an alternate input.
    HDMI ports should not exist on a GPU at all, as it's entirely covered under DP++ with a complete passive adapter (a DP++ port in HDMI mode is electrically HDMI, just with a different pin arrangement). Switching to just mini-DP would save even more space, but full-size DP does have a latching connector by default while latching mini-DP is less common.
     
  9. Guest-56605

    Guest-56605 Guest

    Here was my ITX build (RVZ01), for a while it was my principal gaming rig.


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]


    I still have the RVZ01 for a rainy day - it's a great little case that one :thumb:
     
  10. Guest-56605

    Guest-56605 Guest

    Oh and the Jonsbo (CoolTek) W1 that proceeded that -


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]


    I still have the W1 to :hehe: :D
     
  11. Byron C

    Byron C Multimodder

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    Cheers, I thought it might be a custom loop :thumb:. Tried again with my 120V when I switched to this case as my main PC, but those hoses are just too long and too stiff (fnar fnar).

    But... but... Where are the cables?!

    That's really clean, nice job :).
     
  12. d_stilgar

    d_stilgar Old School Modder

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  13. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    I really didn't like the RVZ01 but that carb-fibre/zero cable has turned my opinion 180 on it. Just needs a carb fibre front now. ;)
     
  14. Guest-56605

    Guest-56605 Guest

    Thank you both :)

    @ Bindibadgi - were I to have another crack at an ITX build I think some full length carbon strips in the recesses of the front could be do-able :thumb:
     
  15. Guest-56605

    Guest-56605 Guest

    A case techpowerup reviewed peaked my interest last year, the Cougar QBX - CCL are retailing it for a mere £35.12 inc VAT :jawdrop:
     
  16. Parge

    Parge the worst Super Moderator

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    That's exactly the same as a Ncase M1! But for £35. Probably slightly lower build quality but impressive for the price!
     
  17. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    There's always the Lian Li PC-Q10, which is pretty much an M1 with an acrylic side panel and a couple of slightly ropey tweaks. £100 or thereabouts.
     
  18. David

    David μoʍ ɼouმ qᴉq λon ƨbԍuq ϝʁλᴉuმ ϝo ʁԍɑq ϝμᴉƨ

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    According to the spec pages it's about 50% bigger than the M1 :confused:
     
  19. edzieba

    edzieba Virtual Realist

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    Not quite the same: the QBX is a smidge under 20L to the Ncase's 12.6L. The QBX also supports only a single 3.5" rather than the Ncase's up-to-3 (depending on placement). It supports 120mm radiators on the side panel, but the side panel design blocks a good chunk of it. Most of the compromises in terms of wasted space are due to the use of an ATX PSU rather than SFX, and turning it side-on rather than being front-facing.
    Definitely a step up from the normal mATX-case-with-some-standoffs-missing school of design though.
     
  20. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    ****!

    My i5-3330 + H77i MB can't see my new PCIE SSD (even chose an ACHI one) even with the latest BIOS, so between that and it's overheating disks in our 30C ambient temps I might have to go back to mATX/ATX for my server. Very few Skylake boards ITX have 6 SATA.
    URGH it's always something.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 22 Jun 2016

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